1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to use of polymorphic data in a session between a buyer and seller, or any pair of trading partners, mediated by a broker or e-commerce hub. In particular, methods and devices utilizing a flexible service request and session end messages are described.
2. Description of Related Art
A desire for electronic commerce brings trading partners together. Broker or hub applications can facilitate transactions between trading partners in many ways. The broker application can field an initial session start request from the buyer and forward it to a seller, either acknowledging the start of the session explicitly or leaving it to the seller to acknowledge the start of the session to the buyer. This and other variations on the manner in which electronic commerce is implemented have implications for software design.